


Predawn

by Joysweeper



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Jedi Temple, Yavin 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 11:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16017128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joysweeper/pseuds/Joysweeper
Summary: On Yavin, Master Luke considers his burdens and responsibilities as the Academy stirs. An extremely obscure character shows up - who remembers X2?





	Predawn

The day-night cycle on Yavin IV, as on any non tide-locked moon orbiting a gas giant, was complex. There was full day, when the Temple-bearing side of the moon faced the star. There was true night, when that side of the moon faced away, and within it there was the chill deepest night, when Yavin Prime stood between the moon and the star. There was false night when the Temple faced the sun but Yavin eclipsed its moon, letting only a dim glow penetrate its atmosphere to bathe the jungle. And there was false day, when the Temple pointed away from the star but Yavin was there looming huge in the sky, reflecting warm diffused light. At any point Yavin’s other moons might be up too, but aside from VIII and XIII they were small or far enough to be bright stars or tiny spheres.

It was deepest night now, and Luke stood out on the roof of the temple, looking up at the stars and the waxing crescent that was Yavin VIII, emerging from a partial eclipse. He’d brought a cloak against the chill, and it was enough; unlike any desert, the humidity of the jungle stored and conserved some heat after dark, and true night was briefer than any night on Tatooine.

The jungle was quieter here than at any other point in the cycle. Many of the small animals that were so boisterous during the day holed up or huddled together for warmth. Still, Luke could feel the lives moving around outside the Great Temple, distinct from the sleeping or waking presences of the students inside. When he had moved in with his first class, much of the larger wildlife had avoided the structure, just as they had when the Rebellion was based here. By now, years later, they had lost much of their wariness.

Maybe he should do something about that. The battle hydras were shy now and hadn’t made trouble since Exar Kun's influence ceased - there had only been a few sightings of them in the past year, all distant - and most animals here were cautious of people, but yesterday X2 had reported signs of howlers on one of the popular trails.

On arrival Luke had called on the Force to discourage piranha beetles from getting into the Temple. Could he do it the same way with larger, smarter, non-swarming creatures?

_Should_ he? Even howlers weren’t that dangerous. A general warning for students to arm themselves when out of sight of the Temple should be enough, they should be able to take care of it themselves. Except that some of them were absentminded, or not good with weapons. And some had sensitive enough hearing that a howler's hunting technique might be disabling. And then, and then...

Luke sighed, barely noticing how his breath condensed in the cold humid air, or how in the east the sky was brightening. Details, details. Running an academy, when there wasn’t some threat, was one little thing after another. Anyone could decide these things, and Leia had sat him down and given him a long talk about the benefits of delegation, but when he was there people always brought them to him. Usually that was fine, but sometimes, like now, thinking about it made him want to snap at people and sulk, like he was his nephew Anakin’s age.

Maybe he should go for a few weeks. It wasn’t like the Academy hadn’t run just fine in his absence before. There were some small craft in the hangar, kept fueled and maintained by a volunteer staff of Jedi students with mechanical aptitude. No doubt there were hundreds, thousands of things out there that could use his attention, and it had been a long time since he'd gone hunting for artifacts or leads on surviving Jedi and potential recruits, and besides that it was always good to see Artoo and the rest of his family...

So why did that idea seem almost as uncomfortable as the thought of staying here? What if they needed him here? Was there anything else he might do?

The door to the roof was well-kept and opened without a sound, but Luke could feel the odd, almost fizzy presence of X2, one of his more senior Jedi and one of the only students to now be called Master. The other came to stand besides Luke, silent for a long minute. Down in the jungle a runyip trotted heavily through the underbrush, startling groggy whisper birds.

“You’re troubled,” X2 said at last. “It’s not the wildlife. Are you thinking about leaving?” He had the most blandly-pitched natural voice Luke had ever heard, as if every time he spoke it was part of the narration for a documentary.

“Yes, but not just yet. And you’re learning. I don’t think you could have picked that up just from looking.” The other Master had been slow to pick up on the more empathic aspects of the Force - well, to be fair, Luke hadn’t been sure how to teach them. When they'd met Luke hadn't been confident that X2 even felt emotions at all.

“I am always learning. If you weren’t as well, I’d question whether I deserved this rank.” His voice was utterly even, but Luke snorted; he knew from his sense and their history that it was a joke. Even if it didn't quite land, the effort should be rewarded.

Time passed quietly. Deepest true night faded into normal true night, vaguely visible in the way the colors of the sky changed, the slight warmth of the breeze. Far away across the jungle there was pink and gold across the horizon. This was going to be one of those mornings where true night quickly became true day, which meant sunrise would be spectacular. He could feel more of the students stirring below. Some were coming outside. If he looked over the edge of the roof he could see them. Maybe a few of them would sense that and look up.

Instead, Luke dared to ask, “You knew more old Jedi than I did, X2. Did those Masters ever wonder if they were doing the right thing? Were they satisfied?”

Luke felt X2’s eyes on him for a long moment. At last, carefully, the clone said, “That was never the kind of thing they talked about. Not with the war on, and not to me. I was assigned to Master Ferroda, but I was never a favorite." Even talking about someone he had such regrets over, that colored his sense with guilt, his voice seemed disinterested. "My template, who never became a Master... he blamed himself for not guessing Palpatine's plans, never for surviving and resisting. Or for taking a chance on me. Of course, Master Kota never entirely warmed to me."

Many people never entirely warmed to X2, not once they knew he was the clone of a Jedi and had killed a Jedi Master at the end of the Clone Wars, none of which he made great efforts to conceal - and Kota being his template's old Master probably colored things further. Still, Luke suppressed a sigh. Much as he wished he could have known more Jedi, it was probably a good thing Master Kota hadn't lived to be part of this. If he'd considered X2 just a pale imitation of Falon Gray, what would he think of Luke and what Luke was trying to accomplish? What would any of them think?

He could feel X2 change gears, pushing away his past and trying to work out why Luke had asked and what he could say to help. “You are doing the right thing, Luke. Don’t doubt that.”

The sky above had gone to blue, and to the east the sun showed piercing red over the edge of the horizon. Its rays caught on prismlike ice crystals in the atmosphere and shattered and sparked in a brilliant display. Below, students chattered and marveled at the sight.

Forcing his doubts away, Luke turned to the other Master with a self-deprecating smile. “You know how bad things can look at predawn. Come, meditate with me. I’ll teach you how to get the big predators to hunt elsewhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> I sometimes roleplay at Dreamwidth comms where players must submit applications for characters, including personality sections, powers sections, and writing samples. This was a sample from 2012, which I've polished a bit for this, for an app to Distant Skies where I wanted to convey that Luke might be willing to leave Yavin for a little while.
> 
> I chose X2, from Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, because I wanted a really obscure character who might plausibly have some authority in the academy. I looked that game up [on Youtube](https://youtu.be/TPTad32Gyhs) and he really does talk in the most disinterested tone possible for the IC voiceover, it's amazing. It's not that the actor _couldn't_ emote, he did for Falon Grey and X1, but X2 is always level voiced.


End file.
